Would YOU Rather ｜ with Amala Ekpunobi
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
195.12001
Summary
Amala Epanobi is a standup comedian, writer, and podcaster who is taking PragerU by storm. On this episode, host Michael Knowles grills her on a variety of topics including: Would you rathers, TikTok, and much, much more.
Transcript
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You know, we bring a lot of old friends on the show. We have them over. We play games.
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We smoke cigars. We drink. We drink and smoke cigars while we play games. But sometimes we
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get the distinct privilege of meeting somebody new. And there is a new voice out there. She is
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taking PragerU by storm. That would be Amala Epanobi. Amala is some, I've only just met Amala
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right now. I don't know anything really about her other than what I've seen online. So I'm going to
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grill her and figure out who really is Amala Epanobi. Amala, thank you for being here.
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Thanks for having me, Michael. I'm ready to get grilled.
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Are you ready? Get ready for the hot seat, okay? The producers have put together a list of questions
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that are supposed to tell us everything that we need to know about you.
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First question. Would you rather smoke a cigar with Dennis Prager or drink a beer with Will
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Oh, you're starting right out the gate with very, very easy questions here, Michael.
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Because I love Dennis more than anything. So I'm going to go smoking the cigar with Dennis
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You know, the other great thing about smoking a cigar with Dennis is Dennis doesn't like Cubans,
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but people give him Cubans. So when you go and smoke a cigar with him, he'll have these
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gorgeous cigars. I mean, like $100 cigars that he's going to throw them in the trash. So
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you get to pick the scraps from Dennis's table are really, really wonderful.
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So every Cuban that you give to Dennis Prager goes to Michael Knowles.
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Goes straight to me. All of them should, and a fair number of them have. Next up, would you
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Oh, no. Okay, now we have a harder question. Let's see. I'm going to go, honestly, there's
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no right answer to this. I think I may fail either way, but I'm going to go with Candace
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Yes. Look, they're obviously both very intelligent, very serious, sharp people. However, while Ben is
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just a fact machine, right, it would be definitely a formidable experience.
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She is like a military-grade cannon, and I never want that thing aimed in my direction.
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Yes. Maybe you're more courageous than I am. Next question.
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Since there is a good chance that this actually may happen, would you prefer to be banned from
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Ooh. Well, considering I've already been banned off of TikTok probably three or four times now.
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I'm back on at the moment, but PragerU is permanently banned off of TikTok, so I think
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I'll take another round with TikTok. I'm so used to it right now.
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Yeah, that's fair. I would like to be banned off of TikTok because it's much more conducive
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You know, I only tried TikTok, truly. My wife and I sat next to each other. We tried
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it for about 20 minutes, and it's like crack for your brain. I thought Instagram was bad,
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but you're just, first of all, some of the stuff is not fit for the queen, but then you're
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scrolling through it, and it's all video, so you just can't look away. It's so immersive.
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It is the most atrocious piece of social media that I think has ever been created,
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People can find me at Amalepinobi on TikTok if it stays there. I mean, right after I say
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That's true. You could be. Okay. Speaking of debates, this actually does get a little
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Would you rather have a debate with a BLM leader on racial justice or with a DSA member, say,
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Oof. Both of them would be, I think, very, very easy. I think I could hit both of those
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out of the park. I'm going to go BLM activist because I used to be one, so I think I can meet
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them head to head. Have you seen that interview with Larry Elder and Dave Rubin where Larry Elder
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looks him dead in the face and he goes, give me an example of systemic racism, and Dave just
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It's brutal because, yeah, I mean, in that sort of a circumstance, if you've got a lot
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going in, I mean, you were a, I know you were a leftist activist, but you're saying you were
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I was definitely associated with BLM, so I did virtually every single leftist campaign
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that you can think of out in Florida I was a part of, so BLM was one of those.
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Wow. Wow. Because I agree with you. I mean, I think socialism's evil. It's been, I mean,
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it's the second oldest faith of mankind is communism. That's what Whitaker Chambers told us.
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Goes back to the Garden of Eden when the serpent said, ye shall be as gods. Many popes have
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written about how just evil and rotten and terrible socialism is. I know now people seem
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to think that Jesus was a socialist or something, but it's just preposterous to say that. You
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know, I think it was John XXIII who said no Christian can subscribe even to moderate socialism.
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So it's like, I get it. It's really evil, but I also think it's kind of beating a dead
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horse at this point to talk about socialism. That's not the big issue. People aren't out
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in the streets for, you know, socialist summer burning down cities. BLM is burning down cities.
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Right. And the whole CRT thing in schools, I mean, it just keeps going race, race, race. So that's
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where I would, that's where I would fight the battle.
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Yeah, I think you're right. I think no one's really teaching Marx in schools or any of the sort
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of, or Lenin or, or Engels or Trotsky, but people are studying Kimberly Crenshaw. They're
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studying all the, all these really radical racialized Marxists. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So
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it is, it is Marxism in a way. So maybe socialism is the battle, but it's like, ugh.
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But it's in this cultural front. This is actually the subject of my upcoming book, Speechless,
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by the way, Controlling Words, Controlling Minds, which is available for order right now for
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actual order. Just a little brief plug in there. Thank you, Amala, for setting me up for that.
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It was just so smooth. It was, thank you. I didn't even have to set you up.
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Okay. I think you're right. I totally agree with you on that point.
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Would you rather have Joe Biden finish out his term as president or have Kamala Harris take
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office before 2024? Oh, goodness. That's a tough one too. I can't even
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wait for Joe Biden to finish a sentence at this point. Yeah, none of us can.
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I'm thinking I've got to go with the lesser of two evils. I think Kamala is a very, very dark horse
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in the running here. I'm going to go with Joe Biden. Let him finish the term. Hopefully he makes
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it. Yeah, I agree. She's so grating. It's not, it's obviously the whole thing is just being
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controlled by the liberal establishment. Both of those people are empty suits. Right. But between
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Joe Biden's simpering, doddering inanity and Kamala Harris's witchy cackle, I would rather
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grit my teeth and bear the Biden mumbling than that. It's just unbearable.
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It is. She's, oh gosh. Oh, she's what a woman. What a woman. What a woman. Speaking of these sorts
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of left-wing women, would you rather be stuck in an elevator with AOC or Nancy Pelosi?
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Ooh. Okay. I'm going to go with Nancy Pelosi. At least she's got a little bit of a mature
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aura to her. AOC, I think once I got out of the elevator, she would accuse me of attacking
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her or something. So I got to keep my wits about me and I don't want a lawsuit on my hands. So
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I'm going to go with Nancy Pelosi. I agree. I think actually you could have a conversation
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with Pelosi. Right. Whereas with AOC, she's just always making these really disingenuous,
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bad faith. Everything's on social media. Right. Yeah. And Pelosi also, when she kind of loses her
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marbles every so often, she goes into that really pleasant, do you remember she was on a morning
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show? She said, good morning. Sunday morning. Good morning. Sunday morning. I remember. It was just
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an answer to a question no one asked. Oh, the abracadabra thing that she did. You remember
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that? Yes. Yeah. She's a strange, at least it would be just a strange, interesting experience
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with her. Yes. I agree. Okay. So, so we're like totally simpatico. Yeah. We're great. Okay.
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Okay. I have to ask this question. Okay. Yeah. I remember when I was in college, you would hear
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this all the time. You'd hear, Hey, you know, I'm a conservative, but I'm, I'm a fiscal conservative,
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social liberal. I always thought it was always the way to say like, Hey, I'm a conservative,
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but I still want to get invited to parties. So I'm a conservative, but I still want girls to talk to me.
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Right. So would you say the kind, there are so many different types of conservatives. There's
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the libertarians, the neoconservatives, the traditional conservatives, the populists,
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the this, the that, and the other thing, right? Right. But a hundred conservatives in a room,
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you get a hundred different answers. Right. Are you socially liberal, socially moderate,
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even let's say socially libertarian, get off my lawn, or are you one of those dread,
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evil, social conservatives? I'm a social conservative. My girl. All right. Love it.
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Yeah. No, I don't, I don't feel like I need to whisper that at all. I'm a social conservative all
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the way. Right. Because sometimes you'll hear this, you'll hear people say, look, you know,
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I'm, I'm conservative in this way, but I actually don't think the government should have anything to
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say about any, any cultural issue whatsoever. And I just, let's just cut taxes and that's it. And I
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think the GOP has been just cutting taxes for 30 years. What has it gotten us? Right. The country's
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in rubble. The real problem in our country right now is, is a cultural problem, especially when it
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comes to young people. So that's why I'm here. That's why I'm at PragerU. That's why I'm fighting
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the fight. Yeah. Because that's what happened to me. I was a young person. I was indoctrinated by the
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left. I met a conservative who was out there trying to talk to young people. And I found all these
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conservative videos, videos like yours, and that's what woke me up. So if I can do that for some crazy
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young people, that's what I'll do. Now, I love you saying this because so often I think
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boomers believe that young conservatives believe that we shouldn't hear anything about society or
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culture. Right. Basically when, when I hear, sometimes I'll go to conservative fundraisers
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or things like that and I'll hear, you know, the way to reach the youths is to stop talking about
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abortion or marriage or family or society or any of these. And I think you've never talked to
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a teenager or a 20 something in your life because every young person who's a young conservative
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that I know is significantly more socially conservative than even the millennials, but
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certainly Gen X or the boomers. Right. The hill that I die on in terms of conservatism is
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definitely not a fiscal one. It's a social one because the culture is really the problem. And when
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you meet young people, whether they're on the left or the right, what they're talking about is
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social issues. Yeah. That's the real, the real war here. A hundred percent. This is Amala. This is
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good. This is good stuff. Thank you. So, oh, and this is a really tough one. Okay. Okay. I'll tell
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you what, I'm going to start with a less tough one. Then I'm going to bring you to the really tough
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one. Sure. Okay. I'm ready. So Joe Biden, he's not looking good. He's looking a little slow.
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No, he is. If he does not run for reelection in 2024, who would you rather see be the Democrat
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nominee? Now I know Kamala is kind of the anointed one, but assuming you can get any Democrat you want,
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who would you rather see? I want to see, I think I would want to see the craziest of the crazy just
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because it's got to get so ridiculous that, that nobody can, can possibly vote for them. Maybe like
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a, an AOC or an Ilhan just to show them the true craziness of the left. And anybody who's on the
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right that goes up against that, I think will win in a landslide. That's, you know, it's a dangerous
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game. It is. It is. A game of a young person. It is. Gamble it all. Red 23. Let's. You got to
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see a crazy one, Michael. All in. Yep. AOC, I think will just be old enough in 2024. Right. Should
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be exactly 35. Right. Right. Lady never tells, but yeah, I think that's true. Okay. So you're in,
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you're in for AOC. Fair enough. Fair argument. Now the really tough question. Ron DeSantis is doing
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great stuff in Florida. He is. He's doing, he's a very good governor. Yep. He, he appears to want
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to run for president. Right. He's kind of taking on some Trump-like attributes. Sure. In the demeanor,
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in the speech. And he's, I think he's running for the Trump lane of the Republican presidential
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primary. So let's say that DeSantis wants to run and Trump wants to run. Who do you want to run?
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Ooh, I think I'm going to put my name in the hat for the young buck. I think I'm going to go for
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DeSantis. Okay. He's a governor that I've seen. Obviously I'm from Florida. I moved from Florida
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to LA for PragerU, but he's really been running game in Florida. He's been actually making changes.
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Look what he's done with big tech. Look what he's done with the lockdowns. Look what he's done just
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all over the state. He's actually making changes. So I would love to see somebody young,
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fresh and conservative hop in the ring. Fair enough. And you know, one hopes that if both those guys want to run,
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I hope they, they work it out and figure, you know, the worst thing I think, because part of
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me thinks, man, I'd love to see Trump run again. Part of me thinks there are a lot of, I mean,
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forget even just DeSantis, there are a lot of really good candidates on the Republican side.
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I just don't want them to kill each other. Exactly. You know, that would be, that would be
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unfortunate. Yeah. Don't go, don't go Dutch on it. Just, just pick one and let them run. Yes,
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that's right. Would you, if you, okay, two questions. I'm going to start off with one.
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Okay. Do you think that the universities can be reformed or do you think they need to be
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basically demolished? Oh, okay. This is, this is a very, very tough one.
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You're a tenured influencer at Prager University. I know. You have institutional backing.
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I've been there a whole of three months, so I'm very far back to this one. Let's see. I think,
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I don't know. I think we need to reform the education system, although I think it's going
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to be very, very difficult. So it might need some destruction here. I don't see the use in really
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attending a college or a university unless you absolutely have to at this point, which is
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leaning me towards, it just needs to be destroyed. Yeah. Yeah. I tell, you know, I'm,
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I'm always a great defender of reforming things over the knocking them down. And I'm a
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great defender of the universities. Right. And yet, even the late Roger Scruton, one of
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the great conservative philosophers of the last few decades, he said in his very posh
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British way, he said, I think they basically have to be destroyed. I think they must.
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It's very, very difficult if the thing is totally rotted out from the core. I mean, I could name
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fewer than half a dozen universities in America or colleges where you could still get a good
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education, really, that's not, not infected by this stuff. So, okay, fair enough.
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So today, well, actually, okay, I want to ask you this one too. Okay. If you could only abolish
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one of these institutions, you've got your gavel, you will abolish it.
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Gotcha. Would you abolish the universities or would you abolish social media?
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Okay. I'm going to pull out the gavel and I'm going to say, boom, social media. I think not
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everybody attends a university, but every single person is on social media and they're truly
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controlled by these super far left big tech overlords. So if I'm going to choose one, I think
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I'm going to choose the one with the most impact and that would be social media.
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But the problem, look, I'm with you. I understand this. However.
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You're on social media. I am on social media. We know about you because of,
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we know about me because of social media. That is true. You make a fair point.
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So now are we, if we get rid of the social media, then it's what? Then it's just NBC again.
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So that's no good. But if we empower the social media, then it's Jack Dorsey,
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You may be, but you're in between a rock and a hard place.
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I am in between a rock and a hard place. They both have significant influence on our society.
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We are, we are churning out radicals on both sides.
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You can knock, you can abolish them both. It's fine.
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It is too much. Conservatives know there are limits to things. All right. We'll put a pin in that one.
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Today, would it be better for black Americans to abolish affirmative action or to expand affirmative
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I want to ask you this on your answer because I, I mean, I think the affirmative action stuff
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is terrible and I really don't like it. However, I am open to the idea that history has an effect
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on current society and history. You know, we're conservatives. We believe in the past and the
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future and the way that one generation affects another.
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Right. So when people talk about the legacy of slavery, I think it's overwrought. I think
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it's kind of silly. I think there are a lot of other factors. However, there is, I think,
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something to it. There is something to, you know, the sins of the father coming onto the
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son and all these. So you'd get rid of affirmative action. Is there, is there any argument for it
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I, not that I can see now. And I think my, my comeback to that is, is there any right privilege
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thing that I have as a, as a black person that you have? Is there any right or privilege that
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you have that I don't? And I don't think that's true anymore. I don't think I'm held back by the
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current society of today. And while there may be small remnants of, you know, the past of the
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transgressions of America, I don't think they're as significant as the left tells us they are.
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Yeah. And if you achieve something through affirmative action, how much should you actually
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achieve? I think it's stripping people of, of true accomplishment, of true success, if you got
00:17:44.400
Yeah. No, I, I think that's true. I remember Clarence Thomas wrote about this in his memoir.
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He couldn't get it. He went to Yale law school. This guy's one of the smartest lawyers in the country
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and he, he couldn't get a job because they all thought he was an affirmative action case.
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And he said, then I learned the value of a, of a Yale degree in this affirmative action society.
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Yeah. No, that's a good point. And it's, it's also just everyone suffers. Everyone does. And
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everyone's got some privileges and everyone suffers. And it's just not conducive to flourishing
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to whine and complain and try to ask for special entitlements.
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Because of suffering. It just won't, it won't make you strong. It won't, you know, you won't thrive.
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If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self. Now you are, a lady never tells
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her age. You are fairly young at the moment. So I don't know, your younger self would be
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But you went through this leftist period, this BLM period. What would you tell yourself?
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I would tell myself, and I answered this question earlier. I would tell myself that you are nobody's
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victim. And the people who are trying to convince you that you are a victim are the ones that are
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truly out to get you in or truly against you. And you, you won't get anywhere if you listen to
00:19:00.740
those people. And I listened to them for a very, very long time. And then I found somebody who told
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me, no, you are not. And you can be successful and you are successful. And that completely changed my
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mindset. It changed my worldview. And now here I am. So I think I'm a testament to don't let anybody
00:19:16.280
Yeah, I think that's terrific. And you, you've had many difficulties in your life. Okay. And we
00:19:22.560
don't need to get into all, I want to talk about the most specific one, the silent K. People, I know,
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I can really identify with this. People, I'm sure they pronounce it Ek Penobi.
00:19:33.640
Michael Canoles. They think it was an anglicization of cannoli at Ellis Island, but it wasn't. It's not.
00:19:40.560
We both share the same struggle, you know, and we're, we're different races. We're different
00:19:44.000
genders. We share the same struggle. That's silent K.
00:19:46.260
You're assuming, you're assuming a lot of things about my sex and my race, but that's for another
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episode. Amala Epanobi, thank you for being here. Where can people find you?
00:19:55.180
They can find me anywhere on social media. And if you guys want to follow PragerU,
00:19:58.620
that's where I'm making content. So you can find me anywhere. I'm all over the place.
00:20:01.820
All over the place. And you can find Amala on TikTok for now. You cannot find me on TikTok. Okay.
00:20:06.800
Nobody wants me on TikTok. Amala, thank you so much for being here.
00:20:09.860
Thank you for having me. And I do want you on TikTok.
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